DMV police division assisting Las Vegas officers in catching illegal street racers

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - It is an ongoing issue FOX5 continues to follow that is taking place on Las Vegas streets. Illegal street racing is resulting in deaths, violence and properties being damaged.

The DMV is now partnering with Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s RAID to help combat this dangerous act.

“Social media. They are able to organize very quickly, identify locations for them to meet and then conduct and engage in the street racing activities,” said chief of the compliance enforcement division for the DMV JD Decker.

The DMV is assisting Metro’s RAID team to stop these dangerous stunts from happening on our roads.

“We have the ability to issue administrative citations which don’t go into criminal court, they go to the department of motor vehicles,” said Decker.

They specifically issue citations to drivers with modified vehicles.

“When they meet and they think they haven’t done anything wrong yet other than meeting, we can go in and identify vehicles that are modified and violating emission standards,” said Decker.

Once the citation has been issued, it stops the driver’s registration pending a mandatory 30-day inspection of the vehicle. The vehicle must pass that inspection before hitting the roads again.

“Impounding the vehicles changes the nature of how law enforcement approaches those problems,” said Decker.

Decker said they do more than just issue citations.

“We have professional vehicle and emissions inspectors that can actually check the vehicle and make sure it complies with state law,” said Decker.

The DMV police division has been working with Metro police to combat this illegal act for about 8 months and they go out and assist the raid team whenever needed.

Copyright 2023 KVVU. All rights reserved.